Accessing Removable Media

You can access information on removable media with or without using volume management.
For information on accessing information on removable media with GNOME's File Manager, see
the GNOME desktop documentation.

Using Removable Media Names

You can access all removable media with different names. The following table describes
the different media names that can be accessed with or without volume management.

Table 1-3 Removable Media Names

Media

Volume Management Device Name

Volume Management Device Alias Name

Device Name

First diskette drive

/floppy

/vol/dev/aliases/floppy0

/dev/rdiskette

/vol/dev/rdiskette0/

volume-name

First, second,
third CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives

/cdrom0

/cdrom1

/cdrom2

/vol/dev/aliases/cdrom0

/vol/dev/aliases/cdrom1

/vol/dev/aliases/cdrom2

/vol/dev/rdsk/cntn[dn]/

volume-name

USB memory stick

/rmdisk/noname

/vol/dev/aliases/rmdisk0

/vol/dev/dsk/cntndn/volume-name:c

Guidelines for Accessing Removable Media Data

Most DVDs are formatted to the ISO 9660 standard, which is portable. So,
DVDs can be mounted by volume management.

To accommodate possible different formats, a DVD is split into slices. Slices are
similar in effect to partitions on hard disks. The 9660 portion is portable.
If you are having trouble mounting a DVD, particularly if it is an
installation DVD, make sure that its file system is appropriate for your system's
architecture. For example, you can check the label on DVD.

How to Add a New Removable Media Drive

Generally, most modern bus types support hot-plugging. This means you can insert a
disk in an empty slot and the system recognizes it.

Caution - Killing the processes that are accessing the media should only be used in
emergency situations.

Verify that the process is gone.

# pgrepprocess-ID

How to Eject Removable Media

Ensure that the media is not being used.

Remember, media is “being used” if a shell or an application is accessing
any of its files or directories. If you are not sure whether you
have found all users of a DVD (for example, a shell hidden
behind a desktop tool might be accessing it), use the fuser command. See
How to Determine If Removable Media Is Still in Use.

Eject the media.

# ejectmedia

For example, for a DVD, you would do the following:

# eject cdrom

For example, for a USB memory stick, you would do the following:

# eject rmdisk0

Tip - You can view the removable device name with the eject-l command.